1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to a winding apparatus suitable for use with an automatic seat belt arrangement for automatically applying a webbing to a person sitting in the seat of a vehicle.
2. Description Of The Related Art
Various types of automatic seat belt arrangement capable of automatically applying a webbing to and releasing it from a person sitting in the seat of a vehicle have heretofore been proposed.
Such a typical automatic seat belt arrangement has a structure in which one end portion of a webbing is wound in a winding apparatus disposed in the center of a vehicle and the other end is engaged with a slider which is movable forwardly and rearwardly of the vehicle along a guide rail arranged in the vicinity of a roof side portion of a vehicle, the slider being suitably moved to apply the webbing to or release it from the person. The driving force of a belt operating device is transmitted to the slider through a wire rope capable of transmitting a tension and a compressive force.
More specifically, if the slider is moved along the guide rail in the forward direction of the vehicle, a space which allows the person to sit in the seat is formed between an intermediate portion of the webbing and the seat. When the person sits in the seat, the slider is moved along the guide rail in the reaward direction of the vehicle and the webbing is thus applied to the person.
The stop position of the slider where the webbing is applied to the person is detected by a limit switch, and the slider is stopped at the stop position on the basis of the result of this detection. This limit switch is engaged with the guide rail at a predetermined location so that the webbing can be applied in an optimum manner.
In general, the above-described conventional type of winding apparatus is operated to wind up the webbing when the slider is moved along the guide rail forwardly or rearwardly, and the webbing is thereby always held under tension. Accordingly, the tension of the webbing is applied to the slider and the sliding resistance of the slider increases, with the result that an increased load is applied to the belt operating device.